Zouk Mikaël, Lebanon | Los Angeles, California

DAESH vs ISIS and the ignorance of the West

I really don’t understand the debate about the preference of using the acronyms DAESH over ISIS when they both mean the same thing: Islamic State in Iraq and Sham (Syria). ISIS gives no more legitimacy then DAESH does to this barbaric group which flies the colors of a terrorist state in the making. For God’s sake, if you do not wish to call this group a “state”, find them another name, like: “Crazy Bloodthirsty Demons in Iraq and Syria” or “Armed Psychopaths in Iraq and Syria”.

To many diplomats I have heard speaking in the past few days, the invented derogatory meaning of the Arabic acronym DAESH is even more disturbing. According to this article, the term DAESH is close to “Dahes” or “one who sows discord”. Seriously??

First, Dahes or داهس which by the way means in English the person who runs over someone else, or crushes someone else, is not close to the arabic pronunciation of DAESH/ داعش. Any arabic speaker can confirm that.

Second, the continuous justification of the use of the DAESH as a derogatory term simply underlines how the west views the Arabic language as barbaric and violent.

Mr. Cameron and co, the Islamic State in Iraq and Sham calls itself DAESH, therefore by using the term it prefers rather than the English acronym, you have not only called this terrorist state by it’s real name which it’s been marketing on it’s new acquired territory, you are also showing how ignorant and how racist the west is. Get an Arabic translator before you go into ridiculous debates, and if you still have time, try to help these poor people in Iraq and Syria to whom you have exported all your crazy bloodthirsty animals!